MENU

December 31, 2015

Tonight Tonight | New Years Eve Plans...

Tonight is the night, New Years Eve and I don't know about you guys but I don't have any crazy plans for this year's festivities. Just a chill little party at Toni and Tom's house with the normal suspects.

I mean, we'll obviously have tons of food and drinks because the bunch of us don't know how to not cook a crap-ton of food or drink in moderation when we are together. So the possibilities of a shit show and/or craziness in terms of us being us are there. Especially since the kiddies have all been sent to their grandparents' houses (No fake Netflix countdowns for us).

Day says that she has a ton of yummy cocktails lined up for the evening and that I should bring my camera over for a belated New Years Eve edition of Day Drinking. So stay tuned for that.

In addition to Day's drinks I know the rest of us are making a bunch of appetizers that we will probably eat as we bullshit with Pitbull's New Year Revolution playing in the background because we totally aren't  Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest kinda people. Plus why wouldn't we wanna see a show that has Pitbull hosting along side Terry Crews and Wendy Williams, with performances by Puff Daddy and the Family, Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Prince Royce, Austin Mahone, R. City, Pia Mia and Earth, Wind & Fire. It's more our type of thing than watching Ryan Seacrest with Carrie Underwood performing (I do enjoy me a little bit of Carrie but she doesn't scream party to me).

So yeah, those are my plans for this fine evening. I'm looking forward to a nice night in with my friends. Especially since I have to wake up semi-early the next day to drive to Vermont with my sister for "Favorite Page #1's" wedding. Which I will tell you all about as soon as I'm back home.

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Years Eve! I'll talk to you next year!

Year In Review: 2015...

♥ Turning the big Dirty Thirty.
♥ Going to Iceland and Amsterdam with Justin, Phil, Rob, Erin and Day.
♥ Celebrating mine and Justin's one year wedding anniversary.
♥ Getting rid of my 1998 Saturn after driving it for twelve years.
♥ Attending Alana & Allie's wedding, as well as Lisa & Andrew's.
♥ Trips into NYC for lots of "wedding" pizza.
♥ Welcoming my sister to the gallbladderless club.
♥ Going on Phil's annual rafting trip.
♥ Seeing the Foo Fighters twice at Citi Field.
♥ Finally dragging Phil and Justin out to Camp Hero.
♥ Going back to school to work on my directors certificate.
♥ Fat Kid Dinners.
♥ Attending the NYC Wine & Food Festival Tacos & Tequila Party hosted by Chef Aarón Sánchez.
♥ #DirtyThirtyOCMD -- Going to Ocean City, MD for the third year in a row.
♥ Going to numerous movie screenings.
♥ A long overdue day drinking trip in NYC with my college friends.
♥ Finally going to the Brooklyn Flea Market.
♥ Not being a beast and still having cheese left over from Amsterdam (This is a big deal).
♥ Seeing "On Your Feet" on Broadway with my sister.
♥ Taking my sister and my father on On Set Location tours throughout NYC.
♥ Helping "Favorite Page #1" get ready for her upcoming wedding.
♥ Seeing Incubus at Jones Beach with my sister, her boyfriend and Liz.
♥ Getting Justin to eat sushi.
♥ Attending my sixth New York Comic Con.
♥ Putting together the first annual Squirtfest with my friends.
♥ Finally being rid of the coworkers that drove me nuts all these years.
♥ Going on hikes with Justin and exploring new parks.


JANUARY
Fire & False Alarms
From The Hold Shelf (Or What I'm About To Read) -- #9
Day Drinking | Belated Holiday Drinks
¿Quién Mató a Patricia Soler? | Guilty Pleasures
From The Hold Shelf (Or What I'm About To Read & Watch) -- #10
RE: Picking Out Artwork + A Sherlock Inspired DIY

FEBRUARY
House Painting Party
Goodbye Twenties | Hello Thirties
Reflecting On My Twenties | My 20th Birthday
Shitty Situation
RE: Shitty Situation + Other Stupidity
New Makeup Obsession | ColourPop
Pretentious Patrons & Socioeconomically Based Baby Names
From The Hold Shelf (Or What I'm About To Read) -- #12
Butt Dialing Drama
Library Advocacy Day

MARCH
24 Hours In NYC: A Bachelorette Party & Anniversary Lunch
♥ Reflecting On My Twenties | My 25th-29th Birthdays
Reacting To Suicide
The Brooklyn Flea, Cat Sitting In Hell's Kitchen, Surprise Parties & Not So Boozy Brunch
Buying A New Used Car
Forgotten Photos: DSLR & GoPro Edition
From The Hold Shelf (Or What I'm About To Read) -- #13
Spain & Portugal Out | Iceland & Amsterdam In

APRIL
From The Hold Shelf (Or What I'm About To Read) -- #14
Dreaming Of Beach Weather | Plus Size Bathing Suit Wishlist
10 Movies I Can Watch Over & Over Again
National Sibling Day | A Little Bit About My Sister
No Longer A Kickstarter Virgin | La Vero Beauty Parlour
Alana & Allie's Wedding | My First Gay Wedding
Sephora Wishlist | Damnit Liz
50 Random Facts About Me
Cooking & Watching A Movie | The Boy Next Door

MAY
Bummed About LuckyFABB Being Postponed
Doodlegraph | New York Mets Vs Washington Nationals
Starter Story | Mine & Justin's Apartment
From The Hold Shelf (Or What I'm About To Read) -- #15
Catching Up | My Life As Of Late
Doodlegraph | Chores With Toni & Day

JUNE
Saturday At Sands Point Preserve
Cholecystectomy | No More Gallbladder For Kristina
Not So Clever Girl | Minor Fender Bender & Jurassic World
RE: Entenmann's Banana Cake | A Tale Of Love & Hate
8 Songs I Will Never Get Tired Of (With Music Videos)
Ted 2
From End To End | Adventures In Montauk & Brooklyn
Getting Ready For Iceland & Amsterdam

JULY  
South End Cemetery | Historic Long Island
Killing A Benjamin | Dollar Shave Club
From The Hold Shelf (Or What I'm About To Read) -- #17
On My Packing List | JORD Wood Watches
Doodlegraph | Foo Fighters At Citi Field
Straight Outta Compton | Tats Cru Mural
(Belated) National Lipstick Day | My Favorite Lipsticks

AUGUST
Library Life Update
Lisa & Andrew's Wedding In Photos
Squirtfest 2015 | Epic Water Gun Fight
Incubus & Deftones At Jones Beach
Getting My Craft On | DIY Shark Tank Top
Men Try Liquid Eyeliner | My Favorite Eyeliners
Urban Exploring In NYC

SEPTEMBER
Married Life | One Year Wedding Anniversary
Still Getting Ready For Iceland & Amsterdam

OCTOBER
Iceland & Amsterdam | The Part About Iceland
Food Network & Cooking Channel NYC Wine & Food Festival | Tacos & Tequila
From The Hold Shelf (Or What I'm About To Read) -- #18
Iceland & Amsterdam | The Part About Amsterdam

NOVEMBER
Sisters In The City | Movie Tours, Musicals & Cuban Food
Sephora Wishlist | VIB 20% Sale
Drinks With Friends | Street Art
Sephora VIB 20% Sale Haul

DECEMBER
Twenty-Five Things That Make Me Happy
Funny Little Boys, Slappy The Dummy & A Retweet From R.L. Stine
Father/Daughter Day NYC | Movie Tours & Cuban Food
Ten Years Without You
Justin's Birthday & The Hateful Eight

December 30, 2015

Justin's Birthday & The Hateful Eight...

Yesterday Justin finally entered the dirty thirty club and since it was his day I asked him what he'd like to do to celebrate. He isn't big on birthday parties or anything, so he just wanted the two of us to go out for dinner and then go to the movies to see The Hateful Eight (2015).

So that's exactly what we did. I took him to Churrasqueira Bairrada Restaurant, a Portuguese steakhouse (Think Brazilian steakhouse) here on Long Island where he could have all you can eat meats. And then we headed over to one of the handful of theaters playing the 70mm Roadshow edition of The Hateful Eight.
 Justin and I actually went into the movie cold. We knew nothing about the movie except that it was a Quentin Tarantino film that had Samuel L. Jackson in it and we figured we'd go see it because we like Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson. We both didn't even know what the whole 70mm Roadshow thing was about either (I'll have an explanation of it further down in the post for those of you interested). We just went to see it blindly.
And are we glad we did. We both absolutely loved The Hateful Eight. It was an interesting and beautifully shot piece of cinematography with an outstanding cast.

But that being said, if you aren't a fan of Tarantino you probably wont like this film. But I say give it a shot if you're into westerns or if you like Samuel L. Jackson and/or Kurt Russell because they were amazing in it.

For those of you that haven't already seen the trailer and don't want to go in cold, here is the trailer...

Now on to the 70mm Roadshow thing.

Here is a press release break down (That I ignored in my inbox for weeks) of the movie, what a Roadshow is and film shot in 70mm format...
The exclusive roadshow engagement that THE HATEFUL EIGHT is embarking on will replicate the special event releases that films used to receive in the early and mid-twentieth century. They screened a longer version of the film than would have been shown in wide release, including a musical overture to start the show and an intermission between acts, and moviegoers received a special souvenir program. THE HATEFUL EIGHT roadshow experience will offer moviegoers all three special features. Roadshows were the gold standard for exhibiting pictures like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, GONE WITH THE WIND, CLEOPATRA, BATTLE OF THE BULGE, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and BEN HUR.  
The Weinstein Company (TWC) and Tarantino's presentation of THE HATEFUL EIGHT will mark the widest 70mm release that the industry has seen in over twenty years. The film will open in 44 markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Washington DC, Houston, Detroit, Phoenix, Seattle, Tampa, Minneapolis, Denver, Miami, Cleveland, Orlando, Sacramento, St. Louis, Portland, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Baltimore, San Diego, Nashville, Kansas City, San Antonio, West Palm Beach, Birmingham, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Austin, New Orleans, Providence,  Knoxville, Santa Barbara, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver. Quentin and cast members from THE HATEFUL EIGHT will be touring the country making surprise appearances in select cities at 70mm roadshow showings.  
Not since the 1966 film KHARTOUM starring Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier has a film been shot in Ultra Panavision 70 format. In 2012, TWC distributed Paul Thomas Anderson's acclaimed film THE MASTER in a similar 70mm format. Beloved by filmmakers and cinephiles for its wide-scope and high-resolution image quality, Ultra Panavision70mm stock captures nearly twice the landscape of the more common 35mm and digital styles. Because of its unique quality and its importance to the art of filmmaking, Quentin, TWC, and a number of other major Hollywood directors and studios have negotiated deals with Kodak to continue production of 70mm and other film formats despite their higher costs and complexity of use.
The lead cast for THE HATEFUL EIGHT will include: Samuel L. Jackson (DJANGO UNCHAINED), Kurt Russell (ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK), Jennifer Jason Leigh (MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE), Walton Goggins (Justified), Demian Bichir (A BETTER LIFE), Tim Roth (RESERVOIR DOGS), Michael Madsen (RESERVOIR DOGS), and Bruce Dern (NEBRASKA). Written and directed by Tarantino, THE HATEFUL EIGHT is produced by Richard N. Gladstein, Stacey Sher and Shannon McIntosh. Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein and Georgia Kacandes are executive producing, and Coco Francini and William Paul Clark are associate producing.  
This bit is about the plot. So if you ignored the trailer, you will wanna skip this part.
In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as "The Hangman," will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town's new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie's, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Bichir), who's taking care of Minnie's while she's visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all...
And for those of you that didn't wanna read all of that, here is a video of Tarantino and some of The Hateful Eight cast talking about 70mm Roadshows...

So yeah, I had no idea what a Roadshow was before last night but I enjoyed it. I loved how quirky it seemed in this day of digital streaming and such. I loved getting a program about the film and the overture in the beginning and the fact that there was an intermission. It was all just neat.

If you want to see The Hateful Eight, I highly recommend seeing the 70mm Roadshow edition if it's playing in a theater near you. And please let me know if you do, as well as what you thought about the movie. I know my review was very vague but I enjoyed going into the movie cold, so I figured if any of you wanted to do the same I wouldn't say much.

Back At It | January Photo-A-Day...

Those of you that have been with me for a while know that for the longest time I would post monthly photo a day lists that Chantelle of Fat Mum Slim created and I'd say things like "This is the month I get through a whole list... Blah blah blah..." And I never did, but I kept saying I would. This went on forever until she decided to shake up her format to weekly lists this past year.
Even though I was really bad at it while it was a monthly thing, I was even worse when it became a weekly thing. Which was horrible of me considering that I went as far as downloading her Little Moments app that sends you reminders of that days prompt.

That all being said, now that a new year is almost upon us (And she's decided to go back to the monthly list form) I am going to give this another shot and I swear that I will finish at least one monthly list in 2016.

So here is the photo a day list Fat Mum Slim made for January 2016...
How to take part in January photo-a-day:
  • Using the list as inspiration, take a photo each day
  • Share it on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #FMSphotoaday. You can also share on your blog or on Facebook by joining her group.     
  • Check out other people's photos and like them or comment on them.
So that's it. Lemme know if you're going to take a crack at it.

December 16, 2015

Movie Trailers | Movies I Wanna See In 2016...

Over the past several weeks I feel like there have been a lot of movie trailers that have debut and I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited for 2016 in terms of movies. And because of this I thought that I'd share the trailers (In the order in which they are being released) for the movies myself and Justin are anticipating in 2016.

Lets start off with Justin's picks...

Warcraft | June 10, 2016

The BFG | July 1st, 2016

Now on to my choices...

The Boy | January 22nd, 2016
This movie looks so creepy and I'm totally digging it. I actually tried to show Justin this the other night but it was right before we were gonna go to bed so he didn't want to see it because he can't watch scary things before bed or he'll have weird dreams. But I think he'd enjoy this one too.

Fifty Shades of Black | January 29th, 2016
I hadn't even heard of this film until the security guard at the library told me about it and made me watch the trailer. Since seeing it I'm totally in. It looks so funny.

Deadpool | February 12th, 2016
I am not a huge Deadpool fan but the trailer for this movie looks hilarious and because of how much I enjoyed this three minute snippet, I'm totally going to hand my money over to see it.

Zoolander 2 | February 12th, 2016
It's Zoolander. There is nothing else to say.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 | March 25th, 2016
For those of you that read my blog regularly you knew this was going to be on here. I mean, I wrote a whole blog post dedicated just to this trailer back in November. But seriously I cannot wait for March to roll around because I want to see this movie so badly. My friends and I have already started talking about making plans to see it.

X-Men: Apocalypse | May 27th, 2016
I love X-Men movies. I've seen them all. I will see this one.

Suicide Squad | August 5th, 2016
Can you tell that I'm really digging all the movies based off comics that are coming out? And of all the ones I've mentioned so far this is by far the one I NEED to see.

I'm also intrigued by the trailer for the newest remake of Halloween (1978) Halloween Returns that comes out next Halloween but the Rob Zombie remakes disappointed me, so I have mixed feelings about this one. I'll have to see as we get closer to the release date how I feel about seeing it in theaters.

So those are the films I'm currently all about and waiting patiently for. I'm sure in the upcoming months others will catch my attention but this is really it for now.

And these are the movies we're both excited about...

Independence Day: Resurgence | June 24th, 2016
We just watched the trailer for this together the other night and I know I got excited. I absolutely love Independence Day (1996) and I'm super super stoked about this movie. Justin is digging it too but he is a little bummed that Will Smith isn't in this one.

Star Trek Beyond | July 22nd, 2016
Neither of us are really original Star Trek fans but we really like the J.J. Abrams Star Treks and we've seen the other two installment in theater, so we'll totally see this one when it comes out in July.

In addition to the movies above there are a bunch of other one or both of us would like to see but they don't have trailers out yet. So here is a list of those movies...
  • Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (May 20th, 2016)
  • Purge 3 (July 1st, 2016)
  • Ghostbusters (July 16th, 2016)
  • Bidget Jone's Baby (September 16th, 2016)
  • Underworld 5 (October 21st, 2016)

December 12, 2015

Ten Years Without You...

Ten years ago today my the most important person in my life, my Abuela, passed away. And for some reason I'm having a really difficult time dealing with it this year. Like every time I've mentioned it being ten years since we lost her I just lose it (Several of those times have been when Justin and I have been out and he keeps joking that everyone around us must think that he is breaking up with me and that's why I'm crying).
Since I obviously cannot spend time with my Abuela, I made plans to spend the day with Justin's grandparents. And hopefully baking Christmas cookies with Justin's grandmother will take my mind off of missing my own grandmother as much as I do. If not, at least there will be cookies to drown my sorrows (And Justin's grandmother makes damn good cookies).

December 10, 2015

Father/Daughter Day NYC | Movie Tours & Cuban Food...

Last weekend I had the opportunity to take another tour with On Location Tours (They invited me to go on their newest offering the When Harry Met Seinfeld Tour this time) and for this one I brought my father along with me. Since we were traveling into the city, we decided that we'd go in before the tour started (This tour started later than the NYC TV & Movie Tour I went on with my sister) and we'd have lunch at Victor's Cafe because it was near the starting point of the tour and I'd never been there before.
Can I just tell you, I feel like such a fool for not going to Victor's Cafe sooner because the food was amazing. My father and I order way more food than two people could ever need, we had drinks, my father told me about the time he brought my Abuela to Victor's back in the day and how he played a song he wrote for her there. It was just a great time and I loved ever bit of it.
After stuffing ourselves with all of the delicious Cuban food we ordered, we walked up a few blocks to McGee's Pub where the tour began and found our guide who proceeded to checked us in and told us to take a seat on the bus. And about ten or so minutes later we were off. We spent the next two driving around New York City learning about various movies and television shows.
I must admit that I was a little worried going on this tour because on the NYC TV & Movie Tour we covered a lot of ground and I felt like there was going to be a lot of repetition but to my surprise there wasn't more than one or two over lapping facts and locations.

So just like the NYC TV & Movie Tour, the When Harry Met Seinfeld Tour was super interesting. We stopped at Café Lalo from You've Got Mail (1998), “Monks” from Seinfeld (1989-1998) and the steps of the Met. We saw filming locations and learned facts about Cruel Intentions (1999), Men In Black (1997), Gossip Girl (2007-2012), The Nanny (1993-1999), Keeping The Faith (2000) and one of my father's favorite movies The Devil's Advocate (1997), plus more.


I really enjoyed the tour and surprisingly my father who typically hates bus tours (You're probably asking yourselves why he went with me if he hates bus tours, well he is retired and has nothing better to do and asked me if I had anything interesting to do coming up from or for the blog and this came up) had a great time too. He enjoyed all the random facts and seeing New York City in a way he had never seen it before.

After the tour we hopped on the subway to Penn Station and then on to the LIRR to head back to Long Island. Once I dropped my father off at home I headed out to Toni's house where I met up with her and Day, so that we could go out to one or two of the local bars for a few drinks and then a late night trip to Applebee's for half of appetizers. Which was a great way to cap off an awesome day.